


So This is Heartache

by Star_Eyed_Moonchild



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, Mentioned Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Mentioned Stephanie Brown, Sorry Not Sorry, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:14:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29713557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Eyed_Moonchild/pseuds/Star_Eyed_Moonchild
Summary: Removing his hand from his mouth, he found the petals of purple hyacinth and forget-me-not.'I'm sorry, and true love,' he thought, bittersweetly.Looking up to the gray sky of Gotham City, he whispered, "So this is heartache..."
Relationships: Tim Drake/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	So This is Heartache

Marinette wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and chuckled bittersweetly, as she stared into the toilet's continents. She couldn't help but to wonder how she let her feelings for Tim get this far.  
' _It was never this bad when it came to Adrien_ ,' she thought, as she picked herself up from the bathroom floor.  
Bringing down the handle, she watched as a mix of blood stained daffodil and pink camellia petals. The first meaning unrequited love and the latter meaning longing for you.  
It was almost funny how the disease gave her flowers with these meanings.  
"Marinette, you can't keep doing this. You know the longer you suppress your coughs, the worse they get. You need to see someone about this, or tell Time how you feel," Tikki worriedly said, bringing Marinette out of her musings.  
"You know I can't do that. Besides, I'm sure these feelings will fade in no time," Marinette said, with the fakest smile.  
"You've been saying that for three months now," Tikki countered.  
Had it been any other day, Tikki would have let it go but now it was serious. Her holder had been spending days and nights hacking up petals. It wasn't until a week ago did the blood start appearing. Day by day she could only watch and advise Marinette to get help, because they both knew that if Marinette's feelings didn't disappear or be reciprocated then it would ultimately lead to her death.  
However, with surgery being the only alternative option for it's removal, Marinette found that she would rather wait for the feelings to disappear on their own because if she went through with it, her feelings for Tim would disappear forever.  
She would rather have cherished the feeling of falling head over heels for Tim, because though the memories of how and why she fell for him remained; she would not have been able to feel the extent of those feelings when she looked back.  
Her mind was already made up. So even with all her options were to: go under the knife, confess and ruin his ongoing relationship with Steph, or get over him. She would always choose the last option, cause he has a good thing going with Steph, and she would never want to ruin that for him.  
Tikki, sadly, knew this.  
Now, she could only watch as her holder coughed a few more times, panicking when a whole daffodil blossoms landed innocently into the bowl.  
"Marinette plea-"  
Tikki never got to finish her plea, as the creaking sound of the door to the girls bathroom opened interrupted her.  
"Marinette, I was sent to check in on you. Are you okay," Stephanie asked, as she walked to the only closed stall where Marinette took refuge.  
Her only response was a flush and the click of stall unlocking.  
She watched Marinette straighten her uniform, and moved toward the sinks to wash her hands with her ever present smile. Giving her friend a quick once over, Stephanie took note of the red stain on the collar of her white shirt.  
"What happened," Stephanie demanded to know, her voice laced with concern.  
"Just a bad nosebleed is all."  
Stephanie, of course, didn't believe her lie, but decided not to pry. She figured when Marinette was ready, she would tell her. However, if she bothered to look into the stall Marinette came out of, she would have seen the lone blood stained, yellow petal that lay on the tiled white floor.  
After that day, Marinette's condition got worse.  
The first to find out about was her and Tim's best friend, Conner. Funny how he was always the first to find out things when it came to her.  
"When did it start," he asked, with concern dancing in his pretty blue eyes.  
It was an emotion that should have been there; it made Marinette feel bad for being the one to place it there to begin with. She figured, the least she could do was be honest with him.  
"Three months now. Going on four," she weazed, as she held a handkerchief to her mouth as she coughed. When she removed it, they saw both large camellia and daffodil blossoms covered in her blood.  
He grabbed her by the shoulders and asked, "Why haven't you told anyone?!"  
She could see he was trying very hard not to break down.  
Shoving off his hands, she said, "It's not that big of a deal. Besides it's just a crush, and just like any other crush my feelings will disappear."  
' _Hold your ground. Don't show him that your breaking as much as he is_ ,' she thought, gathering what little of her resolve she had left.  
"I bet you've been telling yourself that from the very beginning. It's been practically four months and nothing's changed! If anything, it's gotten worse. Tell me, what are we going to do if one of us finds you dead in a heep of bloody flowers? How will your parents back in Paris react to the news that their only child died of suffocation," Conner said, with his voice rising with every sentence. By the end of his lecture he was on his knees; full on balling.  
Marinette did her best to hold in the petals that were now consuming her lungs and airways. Right now, she had a friend to comfort.  
With her slim pale arms wrapped around his large form, did she allow herself to finally feel what she was suppressing.  
She almost found it hard to believe that the emotions she was feeling were her's. They were a mix of fear, sadness, broken hearted, anger, some resentment, and most of all; love.  
Never once had she felt such emotions, and it was making her feel so helpless.  
She wanted to know why now of all situations did she feel this way. It would have made sense if she had it during her time in Paris. Why not when she decided to leave Paris? Or before Hawkmoth's defeat? Or even when Lila completely turned her classmates against her?  
' _No,_ ' she thought as she looked at Conner, ' _this is different_.'  
Her best friend, the strongest person she ever knew to walk the earth; was crying and worried for her life. This was her fault. She was angry with herself. She resented herself. Sad and heart broken for her friend who is balling his eyes out. Scared to leave him and the rest of her friends like this after she leaves this Earth.  
She didn't even realize she was crying until Conner was wiping away her tears.  
With her focus back on him, he asked, "So, now what?"  
She could only look down, and said, "I'll just have to try harder to get over him."  
He sat there silently, already knowing the outcome. Getting up he went down the hall to her storage closet. He grabbed the fluffier pillows and blankets he could find along with an unused trash bin. With everything needed to comfort his friend, he made his way back to her and said, "I'd be a horrible friend if I left you here right now. So what do you say to me sleeping iover and building a pillow fort?"  
That day, Conner spent the night at her place. He held her hair as she coughed into the toilet, gave her clean handkerchiefs when the one she was using got too bloody, and even cooked for her. This boy was always too good for the world he was brought into.  
The next person, well, people, to find out was Tim's family.  
Marinette had gone over to the Wayne Manor to drop off some case reports for Tim. However, when she arrived, Dick was the one who opened the door and told her that Tim had an "appointment" he had to go to. If the eyebrow wiggle was anything to go by, itshe would say that Tim's "appointment" was a date with Steph.  
Suddenly, he was pushed out of the way and instead, Jason stood before her. Next thing she knew, was one minute she was outside on the doorstep and the next she was seated on the couch with Damian next to her as Jason was about to insert a movie into the DVD player.  
"Look, I really should get going," she said, as she felt a wave of coughs coming up.  
"Forget it Pixie Pop. We haven't seen you in forever and it's movie night. Damian got to pick, so I hope your good with scary, gory movies," Jason said, as Dick ran to the kitchen for the snacks.  
Just as hJason was going to give her the rundown of the movie, Marinette found she couldn't hold it back anymore. The mix of bloody, yellow and pink petals and blossoms were spewing all over their living room. The two with her quickly surrounded her not knowing what to do. When Dick returned with a bowl of popcorn, that was quickly discarded to the floor, he ran to her side and began to rub comforting circles on her back.  
"Alfred," Dick yelled.  
Surely he would know what to do.  
"Who the hell, is it," Jason asked, with an edge to his tone.  
Dick just looked at him, knowing this wasn't the time for such questions.  
"Don't look at him like that, Grayson. Don't deny that you want to know as well," Damian said, monotonously.  
"Damian," the newcomer's voice said, with warning.  
Their attention was drawn to Bruce, who stood next to Alfred. It seemed the butler already had the tools he needed to remove the disease. It turns out, this wasn't his first time operating with someone in this condition.  
"Father, I-," Damian began, but was silenced when his father shook his head.  
Bruce made his way toward Marinette, crouching down to her height, and noting the tail of blood from the corner of lips, and the amount of bloodied petals and flowers that now decorated his carpet. He wondered just how long this has been going on, and just how much pain she must be in. He considered it a miracle that she was still alive at this point.  
"You don't have to go through with it. I want you to know that. However, I advise that you do. From the looks of it, it won't be long until you," Bruce said, tailing off towards the end.  
It doesn't take a genius to know what he was implying.  
"Thank you Bruce, but no thank you," she said.  
This earned her a loud, "what," from the three young males in the room. They couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that she rejected the surgery. They could see she was in pain, and now looking at her, when was the last time she got a good night's sleep or a proper meal?! The boys were even more bamboozled when Bruce simply nodded his head, and looked to Alfred.  
Nodding his head, Alfred said, "If you follow me miss Marinette, I'll give you some remedies that will help with the pain."  
"Thank you Alfred."  
Just as she was about to leave with Alfred, she paused and said, "It's Tim."  
They at least deserved to know, after what they just and are about to go through.  
"I'll kill that little fucker."  
"Damian!"  
"You can't stop me this time, Father!"  
"Don't worry, I'll help this time Demon Spawn."  
"Jason!"  
"Fuck off Brucie!"  
By the time Tim got home, the boy was on cloud nine. He and Seph had been going out for a while now, and it was all thanks to Marinette. If she hadn't been there to encourage him and help him plan the first date, who knows what might have been.  
He was on such a high, that he didn't feel the disappointed stare from Dick as he held back Damian, or Bruce practically dragging Jason's knockout body to the Batcave. Hell, he didn't even notice that Alfred didn't even greet him at the door.  
"Let go of me Grayson!"  
Tim's attention was brought back down to Earth, and given to his oldest and youngest brothers.  
Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "What's his problem?"  
Now that seemed to set off Damian even more.  
"What's my problem?! You fucking bastard! Honestly, she could've done so much better, but chose your sorry ass to give her heart to! Now... Now she's suffering and you haven't even taken the time to notice it. She's put aside her feelings for you and helped you so many times. Not just with your love life but with cases, homework, team ups, and even making sure you eat! You don't... You don't deserve her," Damian said, no longer squirming to be released from Dick's hold.  
"Wait. What," Tim asked, not really processing what just happened.  
Dicked could only sigh, and told him, "Just go to your room, Tim."  
"But-"  
"I SAID GO TO YOUR ROOM!"  
Tim, caught off guard, did just that.  
It was rare to see Dick angry, but he knew it was best to stand clear.  
After realizing what he just did, Dick knocked on his door and apologized saying that it had been a long day before walking away. Tim laid there quietly in his bed unable to sleep, as the bad feeling in his guts was leaving him restless. A feeling, that this day was a warning of something that was to come.  
It was exactly two weeks later, that the news spread that Marinette was in the hospital. When Tim heard this, he felt his heart shatter like glass.  
He ran out of class not carrying that the teacher's were calling his name. Marinette was in the hospital, and he was not going to sit around behind a desk listening to lectures when she needed him by her side.  
"What's this about Marinette being in the Hospital?! Why is she here to begin with?! What's wrong with her," Tim asked, when saw Conner in the hall.  
To say he was worried was an understatement. However, when Conner couldn't even look him in the eyes, he quickly ran out of the school's doors and got onto his car.  
Once he was able to find out what hospital she was admitted to, he threw all traffic laws out the window. He needed to get to his best friend, and fast.  
In that one day, Tim Drake nearly caused six different accidents. When he finally arrived at the hospital, he didn't even bother with properly parking the car. He just left in front of the entrance, with the engine running, and dashing inside. Screw it if his car gets stolen.  
He didn't bother with reception, he went straight to her room. He ignored the yells from the nurses, and the smell of chemicals as he ran. His mind was focused simply on Marinette.  
Finally finding her room, he all but threw the door open. Inside was his family, all with solemn faces. In the middle was Marinette, surrounded with bloody flowers and petals, meanwhile in her hand was the largest bloody, pink camellia she's coughed.  
"Marinette," he said, tentatively.  
Bruce stood up, placing a hand on Damian's shoulder to stop him from lashing out at Tim. Meeting Tim's gaze, Bruce said, "We'll give you two some space."  
"Hey," she said, tiredly once they were alone.  
"Hey," he responded, as he pulled up a chair next to her bed.  
"It's not as bad as it looks," she said, as another wave of vicious coughs took control of her.  
Tim could only watch helplessly as blood, petals and flowers pour out from within her.  
"Have you talked to Ivy yet," he asked, once she was able to talk.  
"Yeah, turns out when it comes to these kinds of things her powers don't have any affect. Kind of sucks to be honest," she said, in between some light coughs.  
"Tim."  
"Yeah, Mari," he asked.  
Was it just him or was she gasping for air?  
"I don't have a lot of time left," she said, with a wheeze.  
"Mari..."  
Tears were beginning to form in his eyes. He couldn't stop them from staining his cheeks as they ran down his face.  
"Please listen. None of this is your fault. It's not your fault."  
"Mari, please..."  
' _Why is her breathing becoming more spaced out? God, no. Please, dont. Please, don't take her. Not today. Not any day soon_ ,' Tim thought.  
"I love you. You need to know that," Marinette said, taking in a few more breaths before falling limp.  
"Mari? Come on Mari this isn't funny. Wake up, please. Mari? Marinette? Marinette," Tim called out to her, but received no reply, much less a reaction.  
He then fell out of his chair, and his knees. Both his hands clasped tightly round the hand that held one big, bloody pink camellia.  
On that day, Tim cried like he never cried before. Meanwhile, outside the halls his family weren't holding up any better.  
Over the course of a week, a small memorial was held at the school. Her parents and close friends and family attended the funeral. Upon all the guest that arrived, Tim was the last to leave.  
As he stared at the stone, he suddenly felt a cough scratch at the back of his throat. Removing his hand from his mouth, he found the petals of purple hyacinth and forget-me-not.  
' _I'm sorry, and true love_ ,' he thought, bittersweetly.  
Looking up to the gray sky of Gotham City, he whispered, "So this is heartache. I miss you Mari."

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so I got an ao3 account! Woohoo!  
> I will be working on bring some of my work from Tumblr to this site. This being the first of many.  
> If you are interested in my other work please check them out @stareyedmoonchid on tumblr.  
> As some of you can tell I did some editing on this one, and I hope it's better than the original.  
> Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
